Facebook gets you 30 more days in prison

If you’re caught using a smuggled mobile phone in a South Carolina prison you can expect solitary confinement. If you’re caught updating your Facebook profile, it could mean another thirty days in the clink and a hefty $500 fine.

According to the Charlston Post and Courier, a representative for the state thinks telling your friends outside the slammer what slop you’re having for dinner on Facebook is a crime punishable by an extension on time served.

Rep. Wendell Gilliard – a Democrat – is trying to introduce House Bill 3527, where it would be “unlawful for an inmate to be a member of any internet-based social networking website such as Facebook, Myspace and Classmates.

“An inmate who joins an internet-based social networking website or a person who establishes an account with an internet-based social network website for an inmate is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than thirty days.”

The Courier cites one inmate, serving a 40 year sentence for kidnapping, called Courtney Woode who accessed his Facebook page from prison and posted updates such as: “Steelers to the superbowl [sic]. Hell yeah!”

But lawmakers argue that there is a danger inmates will use Facebook for intimidation purposes on the outside. Gilliard said: “This is an embarrassment to South Carolina that no lawmaker should tolerate. These inmates can use this to put people’s lives in danger. We need to put a stop to this immediately.”